US Ambassador to Netherlands Clashes with Dutch Reporters Over Remarks About Muslims

At his first news conference at The Hague, Dutch reporters pressed Hoekstra about his 2015 comments that Muslims have sown chaos and rendered parts of the Netherlands "no-go zones" where cars and politicians are "being burned".

Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman from MI, was born in the northern Dutch city of Groningen before his family emigrated to the United States.

Angry Dutch reporters asked him several times whether he still believed there were "no-go areas" in The Netherlands, and to identify which politicians had been burned. He then ignored multiple follow-ups, prompting one reporter to say, "This is the Netherlands - you have to answer questions". "Yes or no", one asked.

Hoekstra said Wednesday he didn't want to revisit the issue, according to the AP report.

"Everybody there had one question: that insane statement you made, are you going to withdraw it?" said Roel Geeraedts, a political reporter at the Dutch television station RTL Nieuws in a phone interview about the event.

"Do you now reach the conclusion you were wrong when you stated that politicians and cars were being burned?"

Hoekstra simply responded by saying, "Thank you".

'Dutch media roasts new United States ambassador Peter Hoekstra for dodging questions about past anti-Islam comments, ' was the headline in the Chicago Tribune.

"The Ambassador made mistakes in 2015, made comments that should not have been made", Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters.

Goldstein said that Hoekstra has an interview scheduled with a Dutch media outlet on Friday, but he didn't name the organization. "That is actually an incorrect statement", Mr. Hoekstra told Mr. Zwart.

In another exchange, a reporter asked Hoekstra to look at a John Adams quote mounted on a fireplace that states a concern that only "honest and wise men ever rule under this roof".

His attempt at escaping a direct confrontation on the remarks by using the Trump administration's "fake news" motto didn't go so well either, as Hoekstra was quickly refuted on Twitter after he claimed he didn't make the "no go-zones" comment when there is video of him doing just that. "And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands". "He's been received well by the Dutch government, and we hope that he can be received well by the people of the Netherlands". Hoesktra has declined to substantiate the remarks, and did not clarify an apology he gave in December after making false statements to a reporter who had asked about them.

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